Bastian laughed as he held her body against his. "It's quite alright. It's just Nut."
It only took Oriana a moment to realize that she was clinging to a man she didn't even know. She immediately took a step back. "Nut? It has a name?"
"Of course he has a name." Bastian squatted down and held his hand out toward the squirrel. "Don't you, boy?" The squirrel jumped up onto his shoulder.
"That...that animal almost got me killed!"
Bastian patted the squirrel's head as he stood up. "He also saved you." Bastian pulled a grape out of his pocket and handed it to the squirrel. Nut grabbed it with his greedy little paws and nibbled away at the outside of the grape.
"I wouldn't have needed saving if...wait a second. You made that rodent attack."
Nut stopped nibbling mid-bite.
"Rodent?" Bastian said. "That's a little harsh. Although he is in desperate need of a good bath."
Nut threw the remaining piece of grape at Bastian's cheek.
Bastian laughed. "You know I'm just kidding with you," he said and patted the squirrel's head again. "Besides, Nut's distraction also allowed me to get you this." He pulled out the golden fabric that the merchant had been trying to sell her.
"But I...I didn't pay for that."
Bastian winked. "It can be our little secret." He pushed the fabric into her hands. "It really does match your hair perfectly."
The dark room suddenly felt stifling. Their eyes locked. No one had ever looked at Oriana the way Bastian was staring at her. It made her heart race. And her palms felt sweaty. This was how she desired for Rixin to look at her.
"I should probably get back," Oriana said. She pressed her lips together, wondering why she had broken the spell. Bastian was making her incredibly nervous.
He took a step back from her, pushed a tattered curtain to the side, and looked out the window.
Oriana smoothed out her skirt while his eyes weren't trained on her.
"It appears everything has settled down. You should be safe to go." He turned back toward her and gave her another charming smile.
"I don't know how to thank you." She looked down at the cloth in her hands, unsure whether a thank you truly was in order. He was a thief. A thief who had saved her life. With a smile that could light up this dark room.
"No need to thank me. It was my pleasure, my lady." He winked again and jumped onto the window sill.
"But..." began Oriana. But before she could say another word, he was gone.
The push and pull in Scarlett’s favorite story reminded me of my relationship with Penny. In our case though, it truly felt like she had saved me. Not the other way around. I smiled as I watched the two of them. The two women in my life that had saved me from the hell I had been living.
Penny was great at reading to Scarlett. She changed her voices depending on the characters, which always made Scarlett giggle. But tonight, it had just put Scarlett fast asleep.
“You’re better at that than I am,” I said.
She looked up. “At reading? I highly doubt that.” She closed the book but still continued to stroke Scarlett’s hair.
“At reading out loud. The voices you make.”
For a moment she looked embarrassed. “What, you like my suave thief voice?” she said deeply.
I laughed. “Not as much as your princess voice.”
She smiled. “Well that’s good. Or else I’d be worried about what kind of kinky things you were into.”
“Nothing quite that kinky.” I walked into the room and pulled my shirt off over my head. I forced myself not to smile when I caught her staring at me undressing. Such a simple act seemed so normal a few weeks ago. And now there was a newness to it. She wasn’t used to seeing me like this. It would take time for us to find our normal routine again. Time for us to remember what normalcy even felt like. I was okay with that. I paused before pulling off my jeans. If there was even a part of her that still wanted to take things slowly, I wanted to respect that. Even if we had already sped things up quite a bit earlier tonight.
I grabbed a pair of pajama pants from the closet and gestured to the bathroom. “I’m going to finish getting ready for bed. Feel free to keep reading if you’d like.”
